Third Street Aleworks

September 23, 2008
Loved this place as a restaurant, maybe not quite as much as a beer-traveler. But definetly worth the stop. Note to all: If you are going to be visiting both Russian River and 3rd Street on the same day, go here first, NOT second. RR will ruin you. The food was pretty good - amazing garlic fries. Beer is good, just not on par with RR. Atmosphere is nice, sat outside on the spacious patio. Lots on tap, but none of it is very special.

September 16, 2008
Usually worth a stop though there’s a lot of competition in the area for San Francisco and road travelers. Quality pub grub including some rocking fish tacos. The beers are a slightly more aggressive version of a typical brewpub lineup. This is approaching Moylan’s but not quite there - not bad at all. Food is definitely more varied than Russian River. We’ve been forgotten about a few times on busy nights. Often loud.

April 13, 2008
April 2008 - Stopped by here for a couple beers before walking the block and a half to Russian River. It was packed, which I guess says something for their ability to satisfy. Our two beers were good enough if unspectacular, one from cask. We didn’t eat, but what I saw being served around looked to be standard brewpub fare. The place almost had more of a feel of a college bar with a pretty young crowd and loud music. (Brewery #459, 4/10/2008)

November 27, 2007
Weekday lunch. Lots of space. At least 12 beers on tap (10 different 2 of the ten were also on cask). Pretty decent beers. The chili was just excellent. Staff and patrons were communicative. Good experience.

September 19, 2007 [ Updated September 27, 2007 ]
We love this place and pick it over the Rusian River Brewer almost any day. We live nearby and we and a few friends of ours who really like beer go here pretty frequently. When the place was new, the service often tended to be quite slow, especially with the food, but for some years the service has been excellent, even when crowded. The range of beers is usually good, and they normally have some beers that are not too common to find. I also find many of their beers to be very good and can make two general points about their beer: 1) overall the beer tends to be quite good and almost all of it is very drinkable, even when nothing special; 2) their beer is not usually the most impressive looking; it generally has a good body but the heads and lacing tend almost always to be thin and dissipating. It can get loud but the place is neat. For the type of place, the food also is often excellent, with a nice variety. They also brew their own root beer and generally it’s a good place to take kids, as we normally do. Finally, you can get beer in various sizes to go.

August 31, 2007 [ Updated September 6, 2007 ]
Big place one block away from Russian River Brewing. If you visit only one place in Santa Rosa, go to Russian River. This place isn’t terrible by any stretch, but none of their beers really sparked my interest very much other than the barleywine I tried. A group of us ordered three samplers. 12 different beers on tap the night I visited. Didn’t eat. The service was actually pretty good despite the fact that it was pretty busy.

August 2, 2007
Tucked away on Third Street, pretty cool spot. Great service, above average beer, but I didn’t try the food.

June 16, 2007
Typical sports-bar kind of place: big, noisy, tacky, corporate. Waiting for a seat, I felt my heart sink because of the huge list of typical beer styles on the chalkboard...amber, pale, ipa, brown, porter, stout, all the same old stuff you see at every other brewpub in this country. It’s fine when there’s only 4 beers being offered and they’re the usual suspects, but to offer a dozen beers and have nothing unusual or challenging on the menu is downright depressing. Quality of the beer (we tried both a year-round and a seasonal) was fair to poor, so we skipped the food and went back to Russian River for more tasty beverages. I don’t think I’d return here even if I visited Santa Rosa again.

August 3, 2006
Very laidback pub atmoshere a little more decorated than Russian River but not much. The service at the bar was good. The beer selection was around 8 to 10 beers. Always eat at Russian River so I can’t comment on the food. I don’t understand why more people don’t make it here wnen it’s right near Russian River. THey are’nt in the same league but still make some amazing beers.

May 29, 2006
the salad i had was pretty good. i liked the music they were playing